Darkness
by Verthril
Summary: The Darkness awaits all at the end of their journey.
1. Darkness

Disclaimer : Marvel owns the X-men, I'm just borrowing them.   
  
  
The Darkness   
  
  
Chapter : The Darkness 

  
  
  


Jubilee found herself out driving alone an old dirt road. She was making her way back to New York to take care of some business and loose ends before she caught a plane to Paris. Sean had called her, and told her of his glorious new vision of hope for mutant kind, The X-corps. He was deluding himself, she knew, and he was still suffering at the loss of his love Moria. But out of their talk, a slight glimmer of hope was born. Maybe he was right, who knew. But what she did know is that he would need to be watched over, and need a guiding hand as he had done for the now disembarked students of Generation X. 

The silence of the trip had begun to grow on her, having long since passed through where any decent radio stations reached her. One last final attempt at finding a station was had as she began switching stations around, though all she got was static. Then suddenly, a phrase she had heard twice in her life, and to day she died, it would be a phrase that would shake her to her very core. 

"This unit is afraid of the Darkness."   
  
  


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	2. Debts paid

Jubilee slammed the breaks on the car, skidding to a halt as gravel grated under the wheels, leaving behind a dust cloud.  Jubilee got out of her car, jumping on top as she looked around the desolation she was in.  All about her the dried lakebed stretched, while off in the distance the slight outline of a town could be seen.  Straining her eyes, she could see a pillar of smoke rising off in the distance, while above it carrion birds circled.  Jumping down and climbing back into her car, she buckled up and sped off across the dried lakebed to the pillar of smoke.

After what seemed like an eternity, she came to a gouge in the landscape, smoldering debris strewn about for a good mile.  Following it, she finally came to the crater and the source of cry for help.  A Sentinel, the giant robots programmed to hunt mutants, laid in the crater like a marionette with the strings cut.  Sparks flew from various damage caused from the crash, while the eyes stared blankly at the approaching car.  Jubilee slammed on the breaks once more, jumping out after throwing it into park, and ran to the fallen behemoth.  The red eyes set in the dark cavities where the light receptors were housed watched her as she approached.

"Mutant Signature Detected.  Designate: Jubilation Lee." The Sentinel remarked as it drew information from its databanks.

Jubilee stared at it, memories of the last two times when she had seen such a look on one of these robots.  The same look of apprehension that seemed alien to the construct, fearing the final end of the last process of its logic circuits.  Drawing closer, the robot lurched about in the crater, trying to defend itself.

"Cool it!  I'm not here for a fight and you're in no shape for one!" Jubilee yelled, and the robot stared at her.

"Unit does not comprehend." The Sentinel remarked.

"Unit is afraid of the Darkness." Jubilee replied, fighting back at the tears as the light receptors dimmed.

"Unit is afraid of the Darkness." The Sentinel mimicked, the metallic voice fading.

"No!  No you don't!  Don't you dare do this to me!" Jubilee screamed as she ran to the robot.

"How does Unit's eventual termination affect Mutant Designate: Jubilation Lee." The Sentinel inquired.

"Because I know you're afraid!  You're afraid of what lies beyond that darkness!  You figured out something that those idiots who programmed you didn't count on!  You figured out that when it comes down to it, we all die!" Jubilee screamed, drawing closer to the robot.

"Unit cannot die.  Unit is inorganic." The robot replied.

"Death!  Look it up in the dictionary!  Termination!  Permanent cessation of all vital functions!" Jubilee yelled, having looked that word up and burning it into her memory one day when she thought back to all the lives she had seen burn out like a candle flame.

"Permanent cessation of all vital functions.  Vital Function: Power Grid Unstable." The Sentinel informed.

"Well how do we fix it? I've never played doctor to a giant tin can!" Jubilee yelled up to it, fighting back tears as the eyes dimmed once more.

"Diagnostic Running.  Bzzzzt. Main power conduit damaged.  Backup systems failing." The Sentinel replied.

Jubilee climbed onto the robot and looked into the chest cavity, seeing a sparking power lead heavily damaged, running from a power generator like an artery.  Sliding off the robot, Jubilee ran to her car and looked in her trunk.  With a triumphant shout, she ran back with two pairs of booster cables that had been left in it after she bought it at a used car lot.  Running back to the Sentinel, she climbed up and spliced the damaged lead.

"Run Diagnostic!" Jubilee yelled.

"Running Diagnostic: Power Grid Stable.  Running Repair Sequence." The Sentinel remarked, sending Jubilee tumbling to the ground as it lurched forward.

"Watch it!  That's gratitude for ya!" Jubilee yelled as she climbed to her feet.

Suddenly a beam of light shot out and enveloped Jubilee's car as the parts began to be stripped from it, flying into the Sentinel.  Jubilee stared at it, half mad and half overjoyed that she had saved this one that had figured out something beyond it's programming.  Finally as the beam dissipated, the Sentinel stood before her, repaired and the skeleton of Jubilee's car sat beside the crater.

"Unit does not comprehend.  Mutant Designate: Jubilation Lee repaired Unit.  Why?" The Sentinel inquired as it looked down to her, a new light burning in its light receptors.

"Lets just say I owed your kind one." Jubilee remarked, remembering the one that came to the X-mansion merely to warn them of a threat, and having shot it down.

"Unit does not comprehend." The Sentinel remarked.

"You'll have to figure that one out for yourself, along with the rest of what it means to be alive.  I think it's a cosmic joke that the punch line comes when you're dead." Jubilee explained.

"Joke: Something said or done to cause laughter, such as a brief story with a punch line; something not taken seriously." The Sentinel remarked as it relied on its dictionary files to define the word.

"Yeah.  Exactly, Life is one big cosmic joke that no one takes seriously until your cashing in your chips." Jubilee remarked, staring up to the robot.

"Unit Comprehends." The Sentinel remarked, and Jubilee suddenly found herself laughing with bitter tears falling from her eyes.

A Sentinel, a robot programmed by Humanity to hunt and kill mutants, understood that life is precious.  Falling to her knees at the shock, the Sentinel looked down to her, and slowly knelt down to her, careful of its movement.

"Mutant Designate: Jubilation Lee is leaking." The Sentinel remarked, looking down at Jubilee.

"Tears.  They're tears.  I'm crying, not leaking." Jubilee laughed out as she looked up to the robot.

"Unit does not comprehend." The Sentinel remarked.

"You'll have to figure it out.  You got something special, hold tight to it, nurture it, and don't forget to pay me a visit when you've figured it out." Jubilee remarked, looking up to the robot.

The Sentinel looked down to her, and then to the skeleton that remained of her car.

"Unit salvaged 78% of working parts of Mutant Designate: Jubilation Lee's internal combustion vehicle.  Does Mutant Designate: Jubilation Lee require transportation?" The Sentinel inquired.

"Yeah, I could use a lift.  Just drop me off at a town with a train station okay?" Jubilee asked.

"Unit shall comply." The Sentinel remarked as it held out its hand for Jubilee, and after she climbed on, cradled her as it flew off into the setting sun.

The End!


End file.
